Rodion Phi Romano: The profile.
Oct. 27th, 2003 08:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dagas_isaYes, fear. I managed to pull out the lamest history ever out of the collective dustbin, so his profile is something that appears to be complete. Anyway, peruse and have fun!
Name: Rodion Phi Romano
Species: Shadow
Rank: Elite
Birthday: January 5th
Zodiac: Capricorn Sun, Scorpio Moon, Scorpio Ascendant
Age: Created around 1200 C.E. 4800 years old in Axis.
Height: 5' 9"
Weight: 130 lbs
Hair: Black, style changes with each incarnation. Currently spiky, sticking out in all directions.
Eyes: Gray, shifting shades in the light, from a dull silver to an almost black shade.
Manifestation Problem: Rodion has incomplete manifestation in his fingertips.
Human Appearance: Rodion has not consistent image, changing his look to fit in both with what company he keeps and the era that he's in. His image currently is that of a punk, spiked black hair, dark gray eyes that flicker between dull silver and a nearly black shade depending on the light. The more light there is, the darker his eyes seem, absorbing or reflecting the light as it appears. His skin is pasty-pale, devoid of inconsistency in shade or texture. His lips are the palest of pinks. All of his features call of classic refinement, even as they remain indistinct. Neither masculine nor feminine, most people looking at a photo of Rodion would have hard time figuring out of whether he's male or female based solely on his features, it's the haircut that usually clues them in. He is lanky, looking taller than he is, skinny, and unnaturally long limbed. In keeping with his current image, he dresses completely in black, baggy pants and a fitted long sleeve shirt, his hands are covered in fingerless gloves. His manifestation problems present themselves in his fingertips, the ends of which are a shade of empty black. He has no tactile sensation in that particular part of his body, preferring to use the rest of his fingers or his palms to determine texture. Except when dealing with his artistic talents, Rodion has very little capacity for fine motor skills.
Aura: Rodion's aura is reserved, strained, and very masculine. For Shadow's who see auras as colors, his is a dark gray, rarely ever shifting tones. For those who see it as shapes, it is a tight weaving of a thousand threads. To those who hear auras, he is the sound of slow, heavy drumbeats, keeping the time. Whatever it is, there's a sense of resigned calm. His status as an Elite is marked even to the blindest of Shadows.
Personality: Rodion is easily irritated and has problems with anxiety. But very few actually see this. He steps in and takes over before other of his kind usually would, but he does so with the same tense reserve that his kind is known for. His emotions are expressed through subtle facial expressions, momentary eye contact, and the posture of his body, each signal lasting for a second or so before hiding behind his normal blank expression. Rodion moves slowly, leisurely, and with utmost deliberation in high-pressure situations, some faster-moving people get impatient with Rodion. But he almost always does everything right the first time. However when he does mess up, it's in a quiet way that only shows up when everything is ruined. He's apathetic about the mistakes that he makes, unless it happens to hurt someone he was assigned to watch over.
For the most part, he tends to be the loner in the group, watching more exuberant companions from the outside. He lets very few people, usually troubled ones, into his sphere for a few moments, and then turns them loose again.
Rodion is a typical Elite Shadow. One the surface, he's cool, calm, appearing the most subjective of experiences in an objective light. Even when he's serving as a shoulder to cry on, Rodion never lets any implication that there's any personal attachment. He just does it to smooth the way to his current goal. He's proud of his heritage and his training, almost disdainful of those Blind Shadows and Humans that he finds himself around because of their lack of self-control and discipline. Oddly enough, he's also jealous of the freedom they have. He wishes he could be as open and free as those he disdains, and prefers their company to the more restrained ‘normal' Shadows. It's his status and his belief in it that restricts his behavior and generally turns him into a bundle of anxiety even as it's something he takes great pride in.
Below the surface, the facade of perfect control crumbles. Rodion is extremely obsessive with those he's assigned to look after, getting emotionally wrapped up in them without being aware that he's doing it. The source of his obsession with these people is that they DO things; they fall in love, explore new territory, go on adventures. He lives through them, savoring each action and emotion second hand. He becomes close to the target, watching over them at every turn. The only time he's ever really happy is when he has someone to watch over. He's protective, although he rarely openly stands up for someone, preferring to avoid confrontations wherever possible. But if anyone is harming or threatening to harm someone under his care, he will make sure that they're stopped even if he has to resort to causing ‘accidents' to happen. There are also a few people he works with to whom he is very loyal. While he's not obsessed with him, the same rules about protection apply. He's somewhat of a romantic beneath the surface, even as he knows that what dreams he'll admit to having won't come true. He dislikes staying on the astral plane, the home of the Shadows, and spends as much time as possible on the human plane.
Rodion likes being in control. It's the reason why both of his big talents scare him to pieces. He can sense most people's emotions and can influence them through as if he were a compassionate human, but he can't sense or control his own feelings. He goes through the same emotional confusion as humans or blind shadows do, only without the privilege of catharsis. He doesn't like admitting that he doesn't have the self-control he wants to have. His attunement to art is even scarier, even as it's one of the few things he loves, and yet he has absolutely no control over what he creates. Outside of those things, he looks to stay in perfect control of every situation, engineering things step by step with enough alternate plans that he is very rarely surprised with anything. In short he's anal retentive.
Abilities: Rodion has two abilities that set him apart from others of his kind beyond the intense training of the Elite Shadows. The first was the natural ability he inherited, the ability to sense and influence emotions. He understands the cause and effect of various emotions, and works to influence them. The second he honed during his first assignment on the surface, the ability to produce and analyze works of art. While his fine motor skills are mostly stunted, when ever he is drawing or painting his movements are quick and sure, almost as if someone else were in control of his artwork. His skills at analyzing art work are uncanny, he know exactly what the artist was thinking, feeling, or hoping to convey in a work and to what point they succeeded or failed.
Rodion sees emotions as most people see colors. He just does it and he can't imagine his life without seeing them. It takes more effort to affect people's emotions, but he can naturally find the right thing to say and the root of the problem if the person deigns to talk to him. The only people he's got problems really reading are those he's obsessed with, as he's no longer objective enough to read their emotions for what they really are, even though he can still sense them.
The art ability takes effort. Interpreting other people's work doesn't present much of a challenge as it's an extension of his normal abilities. It's creating and viewing his own that takes the effort. His movements when drawing or painting are actually very quick and sure, even with the problems with his fine motor skills, the first sign that he really has no control over this talent. It's pure instinct. He blacks out when he creates his artwork, completely unaware of anything around him and even what he's working on. When he finishes, he's exhausted and falls into a deep sleep immediately, which lasts a full eight hours. When he wakes up, he has an undeniable urge to look at what he created, and has to examine each part of his work for hidden symbolism. This is how he views the Prophecy of the Shadows, and as such it's the one thing in the world that he is truly allowed to love. And he takes advantage of it.
History: Rodion was created back around 1200 C.E. making him fairly old for a Shadow, almost 5000 years at the time of Axis. One of his parents was an mid-ranking Soldier, known most for his extremely cool and logical manner. The other one was a Blind Shadow with the same empathic abilities as Rodion. He knew neither of his parents, and in fact isn't quite sure which one was the Blind Shadow and which one was the Soldier. He never knew them, never missed them, although sometime when he's alone, he wonders about the Blind one, and whether he or she has the same doubts that he has.
His first 300 years were spent in intensive training, like all of his kind. Beyond the basic training, which consisted of learning the history, science, and culture of Shadows and humans, extending his basic Shadow abilities, and learning fighting tactics for both the physical and astral planes, Rodion was also taught that his feelings should be controlled. Of course, none of his teachers were Elite, so he was never taught how to deal with the half of himself that was blind. Even as the layer of restraint built up at this early age, Rodion still had an unhealthy sense of idealism and romanticism, that still boiled up to the surface. He was punished, often severely, by his teachers, although he no longer sees them as being cruel, merely doing what was necessary at the time. Eventually, by the time his nature set, he learned how to feign the restraint necessary to become an Elite Shadow, very narrowly passing the tests required to do so.
His first mission was the examination of a minor prophecy, read one that would affect a narrow geographic area for about a century or so, in Florence, Italy during the renaissance. He was assigned to watch over a young art student, Adrian, for reasons that are still quite unknown to him. He does know that during that time Adrian was obsessed with the concept of beauty, namely whether there was an objective definition of what was beautiful. He explored somewhat with the golden ratio of ‘phi' which fascinated young Rodion, enough that he took that concept as part of his name. It was also during this time that Rodion discovered how he could express himself and the prophecy through artwork and his problems with fine motor skills. He envied Adrian for both his skill and for the mere fact that Adrian was somewhat important to the world. Despite his orders to keep his distance, Rodion chose to become a student under Adrian's teacher, and formed something of a relationship with the student, serving as a confidant to him. He became extremely attached, and when it came down to something bad happening to Adrian as a result of the Prophecy working through him or saving Adrian and ruining destiny, Rodion chose the latter. In doing so, he found that his friend resented him more for it. Rodion was also recalled to the astral plane, and his first mission was deemed a failure.
His second chance came in the 1800s with the advent of the Fauves in France, and another possible revolution in the art movement. Like the previous time around, Rodion found himself drawn to the young artist involved; however, narrowly he was able to choose the prophecy over the person. He came back to approval of the other Shadows, although he didn't feel right about it. The next few hundred years were spent in something of contemplation, Rodion having to seriously force himself to learn to separate his emotions and his actions. In this he became cut off from the part of himself that was blind to the point that he denied even having emotions for a long time. He emerged as his current incarnation, calm on the surface, but radiating an tenseness that is neither pleasant nor unpleasant, just intense.
He refined his control, learning how to gain satisfaction from watching others express emotions while ignoring the part of himself that felt empty without expressing them himself. He moved up in ranks, focusing on missions that would have serious political consequences, instead of merely obscure cultural ones. This proved to be a blessing to Rodion, as without the art involved, he was not nearly so obsessed over his charges as he was before although it still lingered on, as part of his attraction had always been the fact that the people Rodion watched over mattered, whereas Rodion himself would never really matter.
Currently, Rodion is ranked high enough that when an Elite Shadow was needed on the surface to watch over the final Prophecy, he was chosen as to lead a squad of Blind Shadows to the surface. A dubious honor, to be sure, but during a time when no Shadow is allowed on the surface, an honor nonetheless. He accepted his role with only the slightest of resentment and watches over Kage with a dedication very similar to that of his first few missions, mostly because Kage is sort of the anti-Shadow, not only does he matter in the long run, but he is supposed to go by his emotions.
Yeah, it be bad, but I think this is the longest profile I've ever written. Hopefully, if I ever get the two main phases of Axis ("The Story of Earth" and "The Story of Heaven") in a state of doneness, I could write his history as "The Story of the Abyss."
Critiques are beyond welcome for anyone willing to waste their time.
Edit: Just for kicks
Over and out.
Name: Rodion Phi Romano
Species: Shadow
Rank: Elite
Birthday: January 5th
Zodiac: Capricorn Sun, Scorpio Moon, Scorpio Ascendant
Age: Created around 1200 C.E. 4800 years old in Axis.
Height: 5' 9"
Weight: 130 lbs
Hair: Black, style changes with each incarnation. Currently spiky, sticking out in all directions.
Eyes: Gray, shifting shades in the light, from a dull silver to an almost black shade.
Manifestation Problem: Rodion has incomplete manifestation in his fingertips.
Human Appearance: Rodion has not consistent image, changing his look to fit in both with what company he keeps and the era that he's in. His image currently is that of a punk, spiked black hair, dark gray eyes that flicker between dull silver and a nearly black shade depending on the light. The more light there is, the darker his eyes seem, absorbing or reflecting the light as it appears. His skin is pasty-pale, devoid of inconsistency in shade or texture. His lips are the palest of pinks. All of his features call of classic refinement, even as they remain indistinct. Neither masculine nor feminine, most people looking at a photo of Rodion would have hard time figuring out of whether he's male or female based solely on his features, it's the haircut that usually clues them in. He is lanky, looking taller than he is, skinny, and unnaturally long limbed. In keeping with his current image, he dresses completely in black, baggy pants and a fitted long sleeve shirt, his hands are covered in fingerless gloves. His manifestation problems present themselves in his fingertips, the ends of which are a shade of empty black. He has no tactile sensation in that particular part of his body, preferring to use the rest of his fingers or his palms to determine texture. Except when dealing with his artistic talents, Rodion has very little capacity for fine motor skills.
Aura: Rodion's aura is reserved, strained, and very masculine. For Shadow's who see auras as colors, his is a dark gray, rarely ever shifting tones. For those who see it as shapes, it is a tight weaving of a thousand threads. To those who hear auras, he is the sound of slow, heavy drumbeats, keeping the time. Whatever it is, there's a sense of resigned calm. His status as an Elite is marked even to the blindest of Shadows.
Personality: Rodion is easily irritated and has problems with anxiety. But very few actually see this. He steps in and takes over before other of his kind usually would, but he does so with the same tense reserve that his kind is known for. His emotions are expressed through subtle facial expressions, momentary eye contact, and the posture of his body, each signal lasting for a second or so before hiding behind his normal blank expression. Rodion moves slowly, leisurely, and with utmost deliberation in high-pressure situations, some faster-moving people get impatient with Rodion. But he almost always does everything right the first time. However when he does mess up, it's in a quiet way that only shows up when everything is ruined. He's apathetic about the mistakes that he makes, unless it happens to hurt someone he was assigned to watch over.
For the most part, he tends to be the loner in the group, watching more exuberant companions from the outside. He lets very few people, usually troubled ones, into his sphere for a few moments, and then turns them loose again.
Rodion is a typical Elite Shadow. One the surface, he's cool, calm, appearing the most subjective of experiences in an objective light. Even when he's serving as a shoulder to cry on, Rodion never lets any implication that there's any personal attachment. He just does it to smooth the way to his current goal. He's proud of his heritage and his training, almost disdainful of those Blind Shadows and Humans that he finds himself around because of their lack of self-control and discipline. Oddly enough, he's also jealous of the freedom they have. He wishes he could be as open and free as those he disdains, and prefers their company to the more restrained ‘normal' Shadows. It's his status and his belief in it that restricts his behavior and generally turns him into a bundle of anxiety even as it's something he takes great pride in.
Below the surface, the facade of perfect control crumbles. Rodion is extremely obsessive with those he's assigned to look after, getting emotionally wrapped up in them without being aware that he's doing it. The source of his obsession with these people is that they DO things; they fall in love, explore new territory, go on adventures. He lives through them, savoring each action and emotion second hand. He becomes close to the target, watching over them at every turn. The only time he's ever really happy is when he has someone to watch over. He's protective, although he rarely openly stands up for someone, preferring to avoid confrontations wherever possible. But if anyone is harming or threatening to harm someone under his care, he will make sure that they're stopped even if he has to resort to causing ‘accidents' to happen. There are also a few people he works with to whom he is very loyal. While he's not obsessed with him, the same rules about protection apply. He's somewhat of a romantic beneath the surface, even as he knows that what dreams he'll admit to having won't come true. He dislikes staying on the astral plane, the home of the Shadows, and spends as much time as possible on the human plane.
Rodion likes being in control. It's the reason why both of his big talents scare him to pieces. He can sense most people's emotions and can influence them through as if he were a compassionate human, but he can't sense or control his own feelings. He goes through the same emotional confusion as humans or blind shadows do, only without the privilege of catharsis. He doesn't like admitting that he doesn't have the self-control he wants to have. His attunement to art is even scarier, even as it's one of the few things he loves, and yet he has absolutely no control over what he creates. Outside of those things, he looks to stay in perfect control of every situation, engineering things step by step with enough alternate plans that he is very rarely surprised with anything. In short he's anal retentive.
Abilities: Rodion has two abilities that set him apart from others of his kind beyond the intense training of the Elite Shadows. The first was the natural ability he inherited, the ability to sense and influence emotions. He understands the cause and effect of various emotions, and works to influence them. The second he honed during his first assignment on the surface, the ability to produce and analyze works of art. While his fine motor skills are mostly stunted, when ever he is drawing or painting his movements are quick and sure, almost as if someone else were in control of his artwork. His skills at analyzing art work are uncanny, he know exactly what the artist was thinking, feeling, or hoping to convey in a work and to what point they succeeded or failed.
Rodion sees emotions as most people see colors. He just does it and he can't imagine his life without seeing them. It takes more effort to affect people's emotions, but he can naturally find the right thing to say and the root of the problem if the person deigns to talk to him. The only people he's got problems really reading are those he's obsessed with, as he's no longer objective enough to read their emotions for what they really are, even though he can still sense them.
The art ability takes effort. Interpreting other people's work doesn't present much of a challenge as it's an extension of his normal abilities. It's creating and viewing his own that takes the effort. His movements when drawing or painting are actually very quick and sure, even with the problems with his fine motor skills, the first sign that he really has no control over this talent. It's pure instinct. He blacks out when he creates his artwork, completely unaware of anything around him and even what he's working on. When he finishes, he's exhausted and falls into a deep sleep immediately, which lasts a full eight hours. When he wakes up, he has an undeniable urge to look at what he created, and has to examine each part of his work for hidden symbolism. This is how he views the Prophecy of the Shadows, and as such it's the one thing in the world that he is truly allowed to love. And he takes advantage of it.
History: Rodion was created back around 1200 C.E. making him fairly old for a Shadow, almost 5000 years at the time of Axis. One of his parents was an mid-ranking Soldier, known most for his extremely cool and logical manner. The other one was a Blind Shadow with the same empathic abilities as Rodion. He knew neither of his parents, and in fact isn't quite sure which one was the Blind Shadow and which one was the Soldier. He never knew them, never missed them, although sometime when he's alone, he wonders about the Blind one, and whether he or she has the same doubts that he has.
His first 300 years were spent in intensive training, like all of his kind. Beyond the basic training, which consisted of learning the history, science, and culture of Shadows and humans, extending his basic Shadow abilities, and learning fighting tactics for both the physical and astral planes, Rodion was also taught that his feelings should be controlled. Of course, none of his teachers were Elite, so he was never taught how to deal with the half of himself that was blind. Even as the layer of restraint built up at this early age, Rodion still had an unhealthy sense of idealism and romanticism, that still boiled up to the surface. He was punished, often severely, by his teachers, although he no longer sees them as being cruel, merely doing what was necessary at the time. Eventually, by the time his nature set, he learned how to feign the restraint necessary to become an Elite Shadow, very narrowly passing the tests required to do so.
His first mission was the examination of a minor prophecy, read one that would affect a narrow geographic area for about a century or so, in Florence, Italy during the renaissance. He was assigned to watch over a young art student, Adrian, for reasons that are still quite unknown to him. He does know that during that time Adrian was obsessed with the concept of beauty, namely whether there was an objective definition of what was beautiful. He explored somewhat with the golden ratio of ‘phi' which fascinated young Rodion, enough that he took that concept as part of his name. It was also during this time that Rodion discovered how he could express himself and the prophecy through artwork and his problems with fine motor skills. He envied Adrian for both his skill and for the mere fact that Adrian was somewhat important to the world. Despite his orders to keep his distance, Rodion chose to become a student under Adrian's teacher, and formed something of a relationship with the student, serving as a confidant to him. He became extremely attached, and when it came down to something bad happening to Adrian as a result of the Prophecy working through him or saving Adrian and ruining destiny, Rodion chose the latter. In doing so, he found that his friend resented him more for it. Rodion was also recalled to the astral plane, and his first mission was deemed a failure.
His second chance came in the 1800s with the advent of the Fauves in France, and another possible revolution in the art movement. Like the previous time around, Rodion found himself drawn to the young artist involved; however, narrowly he was able to choose the prophecy over the person. He came back to approval of the other Shadows, although he didn't feel right about it. The next few hundred years were spent in something of contemplation, Rodion having to seriously force himself to learn to separate his emotions and his actions. In this he became cut off from the part of himself that was blind to the point that he denied even having emotions for a long time. He emerged as his current incarnation, calm on the surface, but radiating an tenseness that is neither pleasant nor unpleasant, just intense.
He refined his control, learning how to gain satisfaction from watching others express emotions while ignoring the part of himself that felt empty without expressing them himself. He moved up in ranks, focusing on missions that would have serious political consequences, instead of merely obscure cultural ones. This proved to be a blessing to Rodion, as without the art involved, he was not nearly so obsessed over his charges as he was before although it still lingered on, as part of his attraction had always been the fact that the people Rodion watched over mattered, whereas Rodion himself would never really matter.
Currently, Rodion is ranked high enough that when an Elite Shadow was needed on the surface to watch over the final Prophecy, he was chosen as to lead a squad of Blind Shadows to the surface. A dubious honor, to be sure, but during a time when no Shadow is allowed on the surface, an honor nonetheless. He accepted his role with only the slightest of resentment and watches over Kage with a dedication very similar to that of his first few missions, mostly because Kage is sort of the anti-Shadow, not only does he matter in the long run, but he is supposed to go by his emotions.
Yeah, it be bad, but I think this is the longest profile I've ever written. Hopefully, if I ever get the two main phases of Axis ("The Story of Earth" and "The Story of Heaven") in a state of doneness, I could write his history as "The Story of the Abyss."
Critiques are beyond welcome for anyone willing to waste their time.
Edit: Just for kicks
Over and out.
